The newly crowned queen of the Māori of Aotearoa (New Zealand) attended a reception at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoaʻs College Hill this summer, just prior to her royal anointment.
Princess Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō attended the June reception for young Pacific leaders at College Hill as part of the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC), the largest global celebration of Indigenous Pacific Islanders worldwide. She was selected as queen following the death of her father, King Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, on August 30. At 27 years of age, she is the youngest monarch in the world and just the second female leader of the Māori people.
“It was an incredible honor to host the princess and have the opportunity to interact with her,” said UH President David Lassner. “She was clearly a role model for her people and for the young leaders of the Pacific who were able to meet her that evening.”
Te Arikinui Kuīni Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō, her new title and full name, is the youngest child and only daughter of the late king. The Māori leadership role is not necessarily hereditary, and tribal representatives from across the nation selected her as their monarch. As queen, she is responsible to uphold Māori cultural and spiritage heritage as well as to represent the Māori people within Aotearoa and globally.
More on UH, FestPAC
UH played a significant role in FestPAC. The opening and closing ceremonies as well as the ecumenical service were held at the Stan Sheriff Center. And more than 1,500 delegates stayed in UH Mānoa student housing facilities during the 10-day festival. UH West Oʻahu hosted a series of events, and Lassner hosted a Pacific Higher Education Summit for college and university leaders at the East-West Center.
First held in 1972, the festival rotates host nation every four years and attracts participants from nations across the Pasifika (Pacific) including American Samoa, Cook Islands, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
